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Uncle Tom's Cabin
This was an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It described the cruelty of slavery and the unfairness of it all. This book was very popular amongst the Northerners, however, the southerners believed that it misrepresented slavery and refused to let people read it. As a result, this grew the divide between the North and the South as many Northerners increased their anti-slavery feelings. -
Republican Party
This was a new anti-slavery party that was created by the anti-slavery Whigs party members after the Missouri Compromise was repealed. This contributed to the divide between the North and the South as this party favored Northern states. Also, Southern states feared that this party would win the election and declare every state as a free state. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act was proposed by Stephen A. Douglas. It stated that these states had the right to choose whether or not they were free or slave states based upon popular sovereignty. It also created two new states: Kansas and Nebraska. This act widened the gap between the North and the South as many Southerners wanted these territories to be slave states while the Northerners wanted them to be free states. -
Bloody Kansas
This event was one in which proslavery and anti-slavery forces fought a violent war as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This was the proslavery force's attempt at making Kansas a slave state. They burned down newspaper offices and about 55 people were killed. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Representative Preston Brooks was a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina. He used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner who was an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts. This occurred in the United States Senate chamber. -
Election 1856
This presidential election took place during Kansas's civil war in which democrat James Buchanan won against republican John C. Fermont. This election was a heated one as Buchanan painted Fermont as “a Catholic, a drunkard, a bastard, black abolitionist, and someone who would destroy the union.” As a result, Buchanan won 174 electoral votes while Fremont won 114. This widened the gap between the north and south because free states voted for Fremont while slave states voted for Buchana and won. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was an African American man who was born into slavery. He later moved to a free state where slavery was banned. Scott asked the court to make him a free citizen because it was a free state. In addition, in the court case Sanford v. Scott, the issue was whether or not Scott had the right to sue and whether or not he was a free citizen considering his residency. As a result, the court declared that he was not a free citizen and he was not allowed the right to sue, led to the Civil War. -
House Divided Speech
Lincoln argued that if the U.S wanted to be a free country then he had to act now before it was too late. The previous year, Dred Scotts decision had already opened the doors for slavery to be legal in the north and territories that the U.S. expanded into. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
This was a debate for a seat in the Senate between Lincoln and Douglas. Douglas wanted the states to choose whether or not they were free or slaves states based on popular sovereignty. Douglas pictured Lincoln as someone who wanted blacks to be equal to whites but Lincoln said that he did not want to do this. As a result, the North and the South were divided even more because the Freeport Doctrine declared that slaves were not allowed to be imported into territories without protection. -
LeCompton Constitution
This document was pro-slavery and if it was approved, it would allow slavery in the state of Kansas. It protected slaveholding and a bill of rights excluding free blacks. This added to leading up to the U.S. Civil War. -
Harpers Ferry
John Brown and a small group of people were on their way to arm slaves in order to start a slavery rebellion/raid. He did this as a way to free the slaves. This contributed to the split between the North and the South as slaves were going to be free and the South did not agree with this. Northern democrats and republicans such as Lincoln stated that Brown’s acts were “violent, bloodshed, and treason.” However, the South refused to believe that this is what all Northerners felt about the raid. -
John Brown
On this date, December 2, 1859, John Brown was assassinated for his acts of treason. For example, he led a raid in which he and a group of people armed slaves in order to free them. His death led to a split between the North and the South as the North believed that Brown died as a martyr. However, Southerners believed that this would lead to a genocide towards white slave owners. -
Election 1860
For this election, Abraham Lincoln was chosen as the Republican candidate and John C. Breckinridge was the Southern democrat candidate. During this election, the republican party wanted to abolish slavery while the other party wanted states to choose if they wanted to be free or a slave state based on popular sovereignty. As a result, Lincoln won votes from all 18 free states and became the president of the US. -
Secession
The cause of the war was the Southern states desire to preserve the institution of slavery. -
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address
It stated that Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility.